Birds of Kinabalu National Park

This gallery showcase some of the birdlife that can be found in Kinabalu National Park and the lowland forest around Poring Hot Springs, Sabah, Malaysia. The national park is now a world heritage site and is considered to be one of the best places in the region for birding. The park is located at the foothills of Mt. Kinabalu at an altitude of about 1500 m, while the mountain itself is over 4,000m high. The bird life here is extremely rich with 290 species recorded. I spent 4 days in December 2002 hiking, birding and photograhing. Thanks to the help of CK Leong, a local birdguide and fellow birder, Ivor Lee, I had a great time, having the priviledge of many lifers and of course losing a few pounds over the time. We only had half a day at Poring but that proved to be very fruitful as well. Sabah is truly blessed with wonderful natural environment. I hope it will always stay that way for the Land Below the Wind.

Update Jan 06: I took a 4 day trip to Kinabalu Park in December 2005. Had lots of fun despite the very wet and misty weather. It was raining all the time in the afternoon and evenings so it was only possible to bird in the mornings. Trails were impossible to walk as it was too muddy and slippery and the mist did not help with the photography at all. Most of my time were spend at the forest fringes near the Hill Lodge and the path from the main road to Timpohon Gate. Depsite the weather, I was not disappointed. I managed to have better views of most of the birds that I saw in the last trip and also managed to add quite a few nice ones.